Tool joint



Feb. 22,

E- C- wlLsoN TOL JOINT Filed July 29, 1922 fil/1.6.

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j applicati@ nica Ja'iy 29, 1922. semi No. 578,423.

l This invention relates to jointsfortool's,

ignited stems, or the like.` Although' it will understoodthatgthe jointherein explained fmay vbe useful in. many situations wherei itis-d'esired to create a rotary.driving` joint, et the joint hereinafterexplained as an 'illustration of the invention is specifically desined', in its details, for attaching rotary Y ."-""drilling tools to arotary drilling stein.

i tach a rotary drill bit to' l screw-threaded joint; but I havev foundthat Y -such joints have disadvantageous features,.

. Heretofore it has been'the racticeto ate stein by a and it is ageneralobject-'of this invention to overcomethose features and to provide atool joint Vin which the disadvantages. are

Vtotally eliminated. In a screw-threaded ljoint it is. obvious'that a'backward rotationv of the tool willtend to, and sometimes does,-iinscrew the bit .from the (stem. In certain circumstances it is.sometimes desirable in `rotary drillingfto back up the tool; and inA sodoing the bits are frequently lostin the hole. Then' a ain, the constantforward rotation of theV it, and the consequent tight-A 'ening strain'onthe screw-threaded joint,

` tends to set "the joint up so tightly that at times it is verydifficult to remove the' bit in removing t when the tool is taken outofthe well for sharpening.-A As some 'rotary bits have to be sharpenedver lie bit from the drill stem becomes a very considerable item.

The fact that a screw-threaded joint must be machined also imposes alimitation on the bit, in thatlthe bit must be made ofmaterial that canbe machined; and further i must be made of a material that is suitable lto produce strong screw threads.

material that is uscdin suchga bit is more or less limited to the softerkinds of steel,

Ellv

' because a hard steel, such 'as manganese steel, will not machinesatisfactorilyand is too brittle to be used in the screw-threaded-oint.l Consequently, in manufacturing these its it is necessary to makethem out of such a material as can be machined, and then to temper the`drilling end of the bit. `Such bits it is necessary to remove from thehole ver often for resharpening and tempering.

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a jointconstruction that can be manufactured without the necessity of anymachining, and thereby provide that the bit may be madeof any suitablematerial se.

lected with, due regard to its greatest cutting 4general object `toprovide a t struction that involves no smal a comparatively hard andfrequently, the loss of time amv c. WILSON, or .Los ANGELES,cALrrjonNLa.

and wearing qualities, Furthermore, it is a' such as screw-threads; andtherefore a type of joint construction that 'can be made 'of strongsteel.

Thus the joint .itself is made much stronger at the same time that thebit is Amade to' have a much longer life with resharpening.

And, furtherm ore,.it will be -readily recogoiit the necessity o f anymachine Works, or with a minimum off machine works,"greatly reduces thecost 'of manufacture of the drill stein itself and of the bit.

With these preliminaries in mind, the inpe of con-4 ]oint parts,

,nized that the production of the joints with- 1 I vent'ion 'will now bebest understood from- .tlie following detailed description of pre-7ferrecl forms .of the joint, 4the drill stem, and the bitilliistrativeof the invention; and

for this purpose reference is had tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. is a sidev elevation, andvertical longitudinal section in part,showing one formof'my invention; Fig. 2 is an edge elevation andvertical longitudinal section of the parts shown in Fig. l; Fig. 3-is -asection taken on line 3 -3' of Fig. 1v; Fig. 4 is l a plan showing thelupper end of the bit itself; Fig; 5 -a fragmentary section similar tothe section of Fig. 1 showing a modi- `fied structure; Fig. 6 is asimilar section showing another modied structure; and Fig. 7 is asimilar section showing another' modified structure. v

In the drawings I show, by way of illustration one form of bit that maybe used inI my invention, a islitail bit,'B.v It will 'be understood, ofcourse, that this illustration of 'a bit is indicative of any kind of,bit used in rotary drilling. The attributes ofstrength, simplicity,long life and wear- 'ing qualities, lack of machine work, and

general inexpensiveness ofproduction, are applicable, at leastpartially, to other styles of bits as 'Well as to a ishtail bit.

- At SI showl the lower section of a typical 4drill stem.v It is thejoint arrangement between the drill stem and the ldrilling bit,

and the appurtenances of thatjoint arrange- .ment that form thesubject-matter of this invention. In tliisapplication I have shownand-will describe one kind of joint, viz, one that depends for rotarydriving connection upon the interlitting of a square orv other polygonalbit shank in a correspondingly llia ed socket. In a eopendingapplication e 578,430, and also entitled Tool joint, I explain anotherform of joint which depends for its rotary jointed connection on a sort4 embodies a shank l0 at the upper end of bit B, fitting in a socket 11in the lower end of drill stem S. The shank 10 here may be of anysuitable polygonal configuration: for instance, square. the shank titthe socket tightly; they can both easily be forged to their finisheddimensions and tit tightly enough; or, at the most, a slight applicationof a grinder wheel to the shank will fit the parts sufliciently well. Ima say here that the shank and socket may e slightly tapered; thetapered socket may be more easily forged than a straight one. Bit B hasan upwardly facing shoulder 12 that bears against the lower end sur faceof stem S. The corners of the shank and socket may be somewhat roundedfor ease of manufacture.

Various arrangements may be used to hold the bit in proper relation tothe drill stem,to hold stem 10 up in socket 1l and to hold shoulder 12firmly up against the lower end of drill stem S. In the figures that Ihave been describing, and in Figs. 5 and 6, I show spring means forholding the parts in position; while in Fig. 7 I show a wedge means.These various means will be suggestive of other means that may be usedand which will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Thedistinctive feature as regards the present invention, is that thesemeans will be readily releasable, so that the bit may be readily andeasily removed from the stem.

For instance in Figs. l and 2 I show a transverse ykey 2O extendingtransversely through a slot 21 in shank l() and through slots 22 in thedrill stem. The outer ends of this key project beyond the exteriorsurface of the drill stem; and a fairly heavy spring 24 presses upwardlyon the opposite ends of the key, the spring being seated below on ashoulder that may be made integral with the drill stem, or may be, asshown in Fig. 6, made in a separate piece and secured in any suitablemanner. To prevent longitudinal movement of the key 20-:to prevent thekey from being displaced from proper position-I may cut two notches 26nea'r the ends of the key, these notches on even date herewith, SerialNo.'

Itis not necessary thaty being engaged by spring 24 in the mannerillustrated. In order to remove the key the spring is pressed down outof the notches before the key is moved endwise. Then' the key may heeasily removed and bit B can then be freely dropped out of stem S. Thespring 24 is sutiieiently strong to support bit B firmly in position andto keep the bit from dropping away from its shoul dered engagement withthe end of the drill stem at any time. It will be understood that themajor strains, during drilling, are those tending tortivist the bit inrelation to the stem and strains caused by the weight of the stein onthe hit, and that there is not at any time any great strain tending topull the bit out of the socket. ,I-Iowever, it the. bit should becomestuck and the stem pulled upwardly with some considerable force toremove thebit, the key 20 merely vmoves down to the lower end of slotsQL',

compressing spring 2% to that extent.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a' key 20 of slight ly dill'erent form, having arecess 30 in its upper edge taking around shank 10 and thus l preventingdisplacement of the key.

In Fig. 6 I show a key 20 that is pre` vented from displacement by aclip or key or the like, such as illustrated at 3l. This may be held inplace by a small machine screw 33.

In Fig. 7 I show the bit and shank supported entirely by a Wedge orwedges, without the. use of a supporting spring. Here I have shown apair of wedges 45 and 46 extending through the shank and stem slots 21and By driving them into place, the bit is held up in proper shoulderedengagement with the stem. Of course it will be' apparent that instead ofusing a pair oi' wedges a single wedge key may be used. In order toprevent displacement of the wedge keys I may use, 'for instance, acollar 40, slidable on stem S, but normally held in its proper position,as shown in thedra\vings, by a piu ill set in a recess 42 in stem S undpressed outwardly by a spring 413; the outer end ot the pin entering anaperture in ring 40. By pressing pin 4l back into recess 42 the collar40 may then be moved away from the wedges 45 and 46, and the wedges maythen easily be driven out and the bit freely removed from the stem.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that all the arts Ihave described may be easily made without the necessity et any machinework, or with a minimum ot machine work. And also it is not necessarythat the shanks tit the sockets with any great degree ot' accuracy ortightness. They do not have to tit tightly to get goed rotary drivingcontact. And it is not a necessity that the bit be held entirely tightlyin the lower end ot the stem. Also the key slots may likewise be forged;it is not necessary lll) ' that they bel of any great accuracy; or. ifl

they are not for ed they may easily be out by a simple mac iningoperation. Any inaccuracy in the keys or slots is of course taken up byspring 24, in the spring support forms; or 1s taken up in the form shownin Fig. 7 by driving keys 45 and 46 a proper distance into the slots.

Furthermore, in order to manufacture of the bits, I may not use thecentral water course that has been usually used in drilling bits of thischaracter. Such water courses have ordinarily been drilled down throughthe center of the usually screw-threaded shank, and then holes have beendrilled in angularly from the sides of the bit to the vertical centralwater passage. I may make my water passages asv a groove or grooves at te side of shank 10. l' For instance, I may form two grooves atoppositesides of the shank; and' then I may lead those grooves 50 onthrough the shoulder 12 either as a short drilled hole, as for instanceI have shown at 50 in Fig 2; or I may leady those grooves on through theshouldered part 12 as grooves 50', as shown in the vother fill figures.This last mentioned form may be4 forged entirely. These Water coursegrooves communicate with the water circulation passages 51 that extendthrough the drill stems.

Having described a invention, I claim:

1. A joint for Well drilling tools, embodying, in combination with twomembers one ot' which has a socket at its end and the other has a shankat its end entering the socket, the socketed member having a closedendedkey slot through its socket wall, the shanked member having a key slotthrough its shank, a removable transverse key extending through theslots, and spring means acting on the key to press it longitudinally ofsaid members in a. direction to hold the shank in the socket. y

2. A joint for well drilling tools, embodying, in combination with twomembers one of which has a socket at its end and the other has a shankat its end entering the socket, the, socketed member having a preferredform of my closed-ended* key .slot through its socket a key slot f eyextendwall, the shanked member having through its shank, a'transverse king through the slots and removable endwise, a coiled spring surroundingthe socketed member and bearin to hold the shank in the socket, a seatfor the spring onthe socketed member, and a shank fttmg recess on theside of the key 4shanked member havingl a key slot through its shank, aremovable transverse key extending through the slots, theends of theagainst the, key to pressit longitudinally 1n a direction key extendingoutside the' socketed member,-

and a spring surrounding that member and supporting the key by engagingits ends.

4. A joint for well drilling tools, embodying, in combination with twomembers one of which has a socket at its end and the other has a shankat its end enteringthel socket, both socket and shank being polygonal incross-section so as to rotatively connect the two members, and the shankfitting the socket somewhat loosely, thel socketed member having aclosed-ended key slot through its socket Wall, the shanked member havina key slot through its shank, a transverse (e extending through theslots and removab e endwise, a coiled spring surrounding the socketedmember and bearing against the key to press it longitudinally in adirection to hold the shankl in the socket, and a seat for the spring onthe socketed member, and a shank fitting recess on the sidel of the keyopposite the spring prevent ing endyvise movement of the key when thespring 1s pressing against it.

In witness that-I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 6th

